now we have the debt ceiling debate. so certainly we cost ourselves thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of jobs over the last several months because of this whole debacle. >> i'll tell you, i think the bipartisan agreement that was agreed to did help to provide the kind of effort that the public, the american public wanted to see. and we're going to continue to see that move along. i know that the president has the support of the public. i don't think -- it's not for the president not wanting to do things. you have to have two people cooperating. >> madam secretary, the question, though, is simple, was there an impact on hiring in your estimation because of the fiscal cliff? and we ask that, because we're entering another phase in which we have to deal with spending cuts and the debt ceiling. so was there an impact, and then, will we see an impact in the next couple of months? >> i did not see a dramatic impact in this job report. i mean, if you look at the unemployment rate, it stayed about the sam